Today we’re excited to bring you the next part in the “The Civil War” cannon series by author Chris Tate. In today’s post we’ll begin unwrapping the cannon, starting with the many parts that make up the cannon’s under carriage and wheel sections. To do this, we’ll be using the various tools found in the “Unwrap UVW” modifier.

In this tutorial we will be going through the entire process of creating a detailed, high resolution Civil War Cannon using 3D Studio Max, xNormal and Photoshop. The entire pipeline is covered in detail, starting with the creation of the model and then moving onto Uvmapping and texturing.

Throughout the project, we’ll utilize a wide range of tools and techniques, including basic poly modeling and spline work, to more advanced subdivision modeling. We’ll also make use of many of 3ds Max’s modifiers and uvmapping tools. We’ll then move over to xNormal to bake out an Ambient Occlusion Map and then into Photoshop to create our Diffuse, Bump and Specular maps. Lighting the scene, shader creation and completing a final render are also covered in detail.